Rosy Ayala
How We Know What We Know
Prof. Pearson
12/6/18
Asylum Seekers under the Spotlight of the American Dream

“Asylum.” A word meaning “protection or shelter,” yet for those seeking refuge it now resembles a revolving door of denial. There is no more protection for refugees, not unless you fall through the cracks of strict security these days. Asylum can only be sought-after if you can prove you’re in specific danger, you’re a minority race, or after losing everything in turn.
Pictures around the world illustrate the hardships refugees are faced with. News articles evoke sympathy, but only for a little while. Since the peak of immigration in the late ‘90s, depicted here by the Pew Research Center, most generations have become desensitized towards refugees. Children are videoed bullying one another for being different, or in other words, “not from here.” Although those granted asylum can only enter after being approved, the general population of natural born citizens are unaware of the process underlying the surface struggle migrants are faced with, or why they’re “invading,” as President Donald Trump likes to put it.
At Florida International University, a Global Rounds-table event was hosted by Maureen Porras, a managing attorney for Church World Service, a nonprofit organization that deals with refugee cases on a daily basis. “What are your most memorable cases dealing with asylum seekers?” I ask Mrs. Porras.
“Domestic violence… It brings on so much emotion, and is painful for the applicant to relive all of the trauma. They are very sensitive cases. The abuser may become aware and potentially harm them. Dealing with these cases can cause the attorney to feel ‘defeated.’ And we deal with different policy levels. Sometimes, all we can say is that there’s nothing we can do.”

Listening to Mrs. Porras describe the never-ending cycle of hardship refugees endure, makes one ask the classic question, “Why do they leave their countries?” “Because they absolutely have to,” is her only response. In order for an immigrant to be granted asylum, there are a few categories they must fall under to be categorized as a reason for “specific danger.” The New York Times refers to this as the “credible fear” interview. In third world countries such as Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, being in a social group, practicing your religion, or even voicing your political opinion, can get you killed. Claiming asylum for domestic violence will get you turned away, says Mrs. Porras.
Minority races that enter the United States almost always are granted immediate refuge. Refugees from Syria are granted immediate status, and are resettled in communities, according to Mrs. Porras.
The New York Times published an article on “What It Takes to Get Asylum in the U.S.” The article stated how minorities were favored.
“More than 75 percent of asylum cases that came before the immigration court from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala were denied between 2012 and 2017, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. That compares with 17 percent for Ethiopia, 20 percent for China and 25 percent for Nepal.”
One may wonder how high those numbers are today, when the president Trump refers to anyone of Hispanic descent as “rapists, murderers, and criminals,” driving a wedge in our society. Authorities fear that granting asylum to nearby countries will encourage more to come, according to NYT. The numbers clearly reflect the inconsistencies.
Besides running from corrupt governments, tear-gas bombs, or gang threats, migrants risk losing everything. “I left everything behind,” recalls my mother. She’s 50-years-old now, but when she was in her 20s, she ran away to America, from Honduras. In her broken English, she describes the horrors of her past, detailing how the bus she was riding tipped over, killing a majority of migrants aboard except for her and a handful of other lucky passengers. “No nos pudimos quedar aver si podiamos ayudar porque la migra venia por nosotros, entonces corrimos” translates to “We couldn’t stay to help because the border patrol came for us, so we ran.” With a heavy heart and a lump in my throat, I hug my mother, a living testament to the price paid in order for me, her daughter, to fulfill her “American Dream.”

Over three decades since my mother’s own migration, others alike risk it all to improve their quality of life when violence and political instability are too much to bear. “There is no work in Honduras,” says one migrant to an interviewer for CNN. “We just want to work.”
The trek can range over 3,000 miles (Santiago), but this does not deter Gabriela Hernandez, a pregnant woman traveling with her two boys. Seen here, she cradles her boys, awaiting an upcoming caravan of migrants. The journey is tough, she could be robbed, kidnapped, or assaulted. Hernandez takes her chances, with 20 days of temporary stay in Mexico. Hernandez snaps a picture of the certificate granting her stay and shares it with her family back home.
On Twitter, President Trump vents his frustration.

“He talks about us like we are the plague,” says Hernandez. President Trump is merciless towards the migrants, pushing a “Zero-tolerance” policy, having gone as far as separating families, and detaining them in camps. For a while, the United States government wouldn’t admit how many children they kept in detention in order to “discourage” border crossings, reports NYT. Over 1,200 children were detained for months (Dickerson). These hidden numbers are to protect the government’s ‘humane’ image, by manipulating the truth. As children appear in court, some are mute and terrified, as though suffering from a post-traumatic stress disorder. Some refugees were unaware they’d be separated from their children along the way. This video by the Telegraph, shows the horror parents are faced with. Without the media broadcasting and recording moments like this, where asylum seekers are reunited with their children, readers may never be able to relate or imagine the difficulty refugees are faced with. Javier Garrido Martinez describes his unfathomable nightmare. After 55-days of separation, he was reunited with his 4-year-old boy.
Refugees fear danger, are disadvantaged unless they’re minorities, and have sacrificed everything. They live among us, and we are unaware because they are humans, so shouldn’t they be treated as such?

Ozone depletion is a huge environmental nightmare for human existence. The ozone is crucial for the survival to life on the Earth, yet about 20 percent of the ozone has deteriorated. As earthlings, it is our duty to protect the ozone from further depletion. Without the ozone layer to protect us, ultraviolet radiation would directly reach the Earth’s surface, making it very difficult for any form of life to survive. There are many reports, organizations, and articles that cover this information about the ozone. The question is where is this information coming from, what are these sources highlighting in their reports and what are they leaving out? Who discovered that the Ozone was depleting? What are the causes of ozone depletion? How do we know this and what can we do with this information?

Image above is a visual representation of the progression of the ozone hole.

Ozone is an essential molecule that consists of 3 oxygen atoms that predominantly live in the earth’s stratosphere. But the ozone isn’t as widespread as one would think. In fact, it is very scarce, with only about 3 molecules of ozone for every 10 million molecules of air. Research has found that chemicals such as chlorine monoxide and bromine monoxide and other free chlorine atoms and chlorine-containing gases have the ability to break ozone molecules apart. This happens by stripping away one of the three oxygen atoms.

To understand all this information we need to know where it all originated from. In 1974 chemists Frank Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina, propounded that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which are molecules that contain only carbon, fluorine, and chlorine atoms that break chlorine off the CFC, cause a ripple effect, that will in turn break off an oxygen molecule off from the ozone. This would create an excessive amount of chlorine in the stratosphere.

Now that we know where this information originated from, as well as the basic science to the ozone and its depletion, we have to focus on what the articles on this issue are, and what they choose to cover regarding this topic. Many articles covering this topic begin with a line that humans can relate to and grabs the attention of reader because this issue affects humans and other living things on the planet:“The Earth’s ozone layer protects all life from the sun’s harmful radiation” This line is using logos. Most of us as humans are aware that any form of radiation can put our bodies in danger. We are also aware that the ozone layer in our earth’s atmosphere is what plays a major role in protecting us from this danger of the sun’s radiation. The continuation of that first line is using Pathos :“but human activities have damaged this shield. Less ozone-layer protection from ultraviolet (UV) light will, over time, damage crops and lead to higher skin cancer and cataract rates.” This line is using both pathos and logos to grasp the reader’s attention by stating the outcomes that have led to this point. The examples stated in this line are logical but also attract a human emotion because not only are humans to blame for these events but this issue also affects the human living condition.

Taking this class has made me more aware of what information is being published in these articles. Now when receiving information, as a reader I wonder what position these publications are making. What information are they leaving out? What is their focal point? The focal point behind all these articles on the ozone is the science behind it and how the chemical reactions work, for the reader to understand how this affects the ozone in our atmosphere. The image depicted above is a representation of logos and ethos to show the viewer the logic to the science and backing this image and this information up with the science which is where the credibility comes from.

This event like many events nowadays make more of an impact and catch more attention due to technology and being able to reach many people and raise awareness of what is going on in their society. Ozone depletion has become notable due to the rise in climate change and how the two affect our environment affect the living things on earth. The impact that the internet has on how we receive information has a global impact. With the power of the internet, we have an infinite amount of information that we have access to. The important part is how we receive this information and what we do with it after we are aware of what is going on. Since the internet is so global and accessible to anyone, it is our duty as readers or consumers to verify that the information we receive is credible and written with verity.

In regards to the Ozone situation and many other events, the internet provides us with information for solution or explanations on how to help the situation and prevent further damage. With protecting the environment we humans can be more aware of the products we invest in or purchase on a daily basis. To do this we have to be cautious of the chemicals we are using, the waste we are producing and most importantly it is our duty as earthlings to keep track of our carbon footprint. All this may be very time consuming and even exhausting to keep track of what it is we are contributing to as consumers on a daily basis. But with the power of the internet and technology we have the opportunity to be involved in different social groups, find companies that use more natural substances and packaging, and prevent further damage on our ozone just by being more cautious and using our knowledge of this situation for good. With the internet, we can spread this information all over the world and if everyone made the effort to consume more biodegradable product and products that are less damaging to our atmosphere the worry ozone hole enlarging would not be one of our concerns.

Due to our technology in the digital age we have no excuse to not take action into our own hands and do something about what is going on in the world. Whether it is in regards to ozone depletion, climate change, gun control, and even getting involved with the aftermath of natural disasters such as hurricanes or wildfires, we have the power in our hands because we have the information in our hands, and with that information we can donate, spread the word and make a change even if it is a slight change we have the power to at least start with change.

WENDY PALACIOS

Prof. Pearson was also looking for you to provide a brief evaluation (one sentence) of each item with respect to how useful it will be in explaining the HWKWWK about this topic.

Thesis:

Many politicians are denying that climate change is a serious problem. However, scientists warn us that we stand on a brink of failure within 10 years if we don’t get things under control and act now.

Bibliography

Rizvi, Osama. “Catching Up with Climate Change.” SouthAsia (Karachi, Pakistan), vol. 22, no. 10, sec. News, 31 Oct. 2018. NewsBank, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/16F14445E1923530. Accessed 23 Oct. 2018
1. A magazine article that shines insight on the havoc of climate change. This article provides examples ranging from a worried mother whose child’s blood carries mineral such as zinc, copper, etc. due to living by a mining company. To a depicting description of a Mongolian lake that is filled with oozing bubbles of black tar. It brings awareness to the top three greenhouse emitters, the European union, the United States and China. Plus, Trumps evasion of COP21.

“STATES MUST PLAY A PROACTIVE ROLE IN IMPLEMENTING CLIMATE POLICIES: VARDHAN, ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY ORGANISES WORKSHOP WITH STATES ON CLIMATE ACTION.” IPR. (October 9, 2018 Tuesday 12:38 PM EST ): 624 words. LexisNexis Academic. Web. Date Accessed: 2018/10/23.
2. A news article that has brought focus to the social movement of climate change. Now that climate change has been brought to attention, it must be taken forward towards the national agenda. Dr. Harsh Vardhan believes that this issue can be successfully handled by the people, but state governments must take measures to aid and strengthen the notion of climate change.

Roper, Juliet, et al. “Doubt, Delay, and Discourse.” Science Communication, vol. 38, no. 6, Dec. 2016, pp. 776–799. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1177/1075547016677043.
3. A research article that demonstrates the strategy used by climate skeptics in persuading humans of their activity regarding environmental pollution. Using the notions of Bourdieu’s political and social fields, the framework easily explains the steps carried out to create a debate over climate change, and the political delay. The illustration of this framework is carried out by publications of the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition, which has strong ties with the United States.

Seymour, Nicole. Bad Environmentalism : Irony and Irreverence in the Ecological Age, University of Minnesota Press, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/FIU/detail.action?docID=5527572.
4. A book written by Nicole Seymore, that focuses on “bad environmentalism”. She explains how we can expand the audience on their views of environmentalism. She also includes studies on nature and wildlife by unusual comparisons in the manner of poetry, fiction, and animation that are themed in films.

Thompson, Brian Williams, Anne. “UN: How Climate Change Will Affect Earth”. NBC Learn, NBC Nightly News, 6 Apr. 2007, https://sso.nbclearn.com/secure/playcuecard.do?si=fiu.edu &cuecard=2253
5. A news report on climate change and global warming that was heated up from an article by Sarah Palin and a response from Al Gore. Palin is providing examples of how political impact can accomplish a lot toward climate change. The report also includes a bigger picture in the credibility America promised in cutting carbon dioxide emissions.

Schwartz, J. (2018). Young people are suing the trump administration over climate change. She’s their lawyer.

6.A New York Times article that focuses on the representation of Julia Olson. Julia Olson, an environmental attorney that is representing 21 young children on a leading movement towards climate change. Although, is has not become an official case, it is a test on the judicial branch in dealing with global warming.

Kelsey,

You have a great topic, and your thesis is fine. Your resources are current, authoritative, and highly relevant to your topic.

The only problem is that there are no annotations. Prof. Pearson wanted you to write a very brief (3-sentence) summary and evaluation of each item. Maybe two sentences summarizing the ideas in it and one sentence telling how you can use it to explain your HWKWWK theme in your essay.

Ozone depletion is a huge environmental nightmare for the human existence. The ozone is crucial for the survival to of life on the Earth, yet about 20 percent of the ozone has been deteriorated. As earthlings it is our job to protect the ozone from further depletion. Without the ozone layer to protect us, ultraviolet radiation would directly reach the Earth’s surface, making it very difficult for any form of life to survive.

Excellent work, Team 5

Thorough, well explained, comprehensive –all around

good work.

Occasional choppy English, but otherwise very good job.

No pictures, videos, websites

The mainstream media often face enormous challenges in trying to give audiences an accurate picture of the world. For individual journalists, there are extraordinary pressures and obstacles to getting at the truth and telling the stories audiences want and need.

You may select Jeffrey Wigand, 60 Minutes host Mike Wallace, producer Lowell Bergman, executive producer Don Hewitt, the Wall Street Journal editor who helped stop the smear or the NY Times reporter who exposed the inside story on how CBS handled the Wigand affair.

All of these people had significant personal and institutional pressures, some more than others. Please do not select your character because you believe everyone will write about that person. No team can analyze this case the same as someone else, unless they cheat.

Your essay should focus on how the principles and values of concealment and revelation apply to the tobacco case or the case at CBS News. 500 words.*

Jeffrey This movie truly depicts the struggle that journalist face on a daily basis to report their stories truthfully and authentically in regards to the events of the situation at hand. Lowell Bergman had pressure from his workplace to get a story as journalist do, but in the Jeffrey Wigand case, Bergman would be ruining a man’s life and reputation, not only that, but they were told that if Wigand’s story went live, CBS would be sued by the Tobacco company they were trying to expose. “You hear “reasonable” and “Tortious interference”, I hear “Potential Brown and Williamson (Tobacco company) Lawsuit jeopardizing the sale of CBS Westinghouse…Shut the segment down. Cut Wigand lose.”” Bergman continues and say “You pay me to go get guys like Wigand, to draw him out, to get him to trust us, to get him to go on television. I do. I deliver him. He sits. He talks. He violates his own confidentiality agreement.” He further goes on to say: “He (Wigand) is telling the truth and that’s why we are not going to air it. The more truth he tells the worst it gets.” This monologue said by Bergman depicts his frustration in this story and how Wigand’s confession to the public will cause an uproar to the CBS Company, the Brown and Williamson tobacco company, and to Wigand himself. The issue with concealments is that there is plenty of information that is kept under wraps that the public should be aware of, but due to contracts and liability lawsuits that information is usually kept secret. Even though airing those types of stories would be a great publication for a journalist it is also very risky to deal with, so to avoid complications with the law those stories are usually thrown out.

One can understand why non-disclosure agreements are made, especially for major companies. These agreements keep it clear for all parties to be aware of what can be public information and what is kept confidential, and if one were to leak information that is under an NDA their will always be consequences. For reporters and journalist, the task of concealing information may be difficult because their job is to find out the truth but when it comes to NDAs and private information it is their duty to hold this information from the public. In the film, the revelation of what the tobacco company was hiding was important information for the public to know. But the aftermath of this information being released resolved into a $246 billion dollar lawsuit. As a journalist or reporter it is important to weigh out one’s options and stick to the rules, keep confidential information confidential and if one has permission companies and parties involved in confidential information to be released, that permission of release should be in writing and signed by all parties agreeing to release the information.

How does Jeffrey Wigand’s non-disclosure agreement (NDA) affect the flow of information in The Insider? What legitimate argument, if any, could Brown and Williamson (B&W) make in support of the agreement? What NDAs have recently been used in the public sector? Using the critical perspective, what are the implications of NDAs for government employees? 300 words.

Jeffrey Wigand’s non-disclosure agreement substantially affects the flow of information in The Insider. As we can see, Wigand risks his career and safety of his family to expose the harmful effects of Big Tobacco. If it hadn’t been for the confidentiality agreement, he wouldn’t have been so afraid or taken long to have exposed them. Brown and Williamson did make legitimate arguments, like potential lawsuits and the risk of losing his severance package. For example, obstacles like the Kentucky gag order frightened Wigand, because he would’ve been sent to jail. It’s court orders such as this by companies abusing their power in order to keep their image from being tarnished by silencing whistleblowers/victims that feel that they have a duty to civilians.

The most current NDA I can think of in the public sector is the Facebook scandal. Aleksandr Kogan, the man at the root of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, is a modern-day Wigand. Kogan, a data scientist who created a Facebook app that harvested user data had signed an NDA with Facebook, but then gave it to Cambridge Analytica. Unlike Wigand, Kogan was to delete the app and information he harvested, according to the NDA he signed with Facebook. He did not, therefore violating his clause.

In both situations, NDAs are set in place to protect the companies from incrimination and bad publicity. Although Facebook did all that it could to protect its users, the creator, in this case , Kogan was “money-minded” and attempted to profit from his creation. Unlike Kogan, Wigand was consumed by lies and secrets. Knowing that Big Tobacco was attempting to make its harmful products more addictive, he risked his career, marriage, safety, and comfortable life for the well-being of society. Not all NDAs are ‘bad’ for society, perse. Sometimes, it is truly for the betterment of politics and war. In other words, “ignorance is bliss,” for the most part.

John Scanlon and Terry Lenzner were hired by B&W to attack Wigand’s reputation. Jack Palladino and his team of investigators were hired by Richard Scruggs to counter their allegations. Using McLuhan as a lens, analyze the forms of media used by both Scanlon/Lenzner and Palladino. If this war over Wigand’s reputation had occurred in 2018, would today’s media have made things different? If so, how? 300 words.

Scanlon and Lenzner were able to greatly damage Wigand’s reputation by publishing a 500-page dossier aimed as a smear campaign. In the findings, they not only attacked Wigand’s moral values and character but also made him out to look like a wife beater and fraud. They claimed that he had been arrested for domestic battery, shoplifting and filed fraudulent insurance claims. However, none of these claims were actually true and had no factual evidence behind to support them. However, due to the many enemies that Wigand had made in the controversial and complex tobacco industry, Scanlon & Lenzner’s aim was clear: to execute a successful smear campaign which would deter the public’s perception of Wigand and discredit him from revealing the industry’s dark secret.

If this war over Wigand’s reputation had occurred in our present day, the results would have been widely different. The dossier could have easily been leaked to any tabloid or social media platform and from there; it would have been virtually impossible to control or delete. Once a tweet, video or media article goes viral, it spreads like wildfire. Users across social media can tag, comment and forward information to each other – thereby creating an endless chain. In Wigand’s case, he at least had Palladino who filtered and evaluated the information before it could be released to the media and public.

Today’s media can be a powerful and also dangerous tool where an individual’s reputation can be easily tarnished or destroyed in a matter of hours. Although we are fortunate to have unfiltered and endless sources of information at our fingertips, today’s media can also be a double-edged sword. Our generation, in particular, can become overly saturated with sensational news that could be counter-productive and enable us to become fixated on gossip and pointless news as opposed to thinking critically to find accurate and unbiased sources of information.

In the film, Bergman, Wallace, and Hewitt attend a meeting with CBS Corporate. CBS general counsel Helen Caperelli informs them of “tortious interference” and its implications for the 60 Minutes Wigand piece. Provide a detailed analysis of the rhetoric used by the participants in the meeting. For each speaker, who is their intended audience, and how do they use the modes of rhetoric? 300 words.

CBS general counsel Helen Caperelli, begins to inform Bergman, Wallace, and Hewitt on the legal concept that has been getting a lot of attention “tortious interference” explains that if two people have a confidentiality agreement and one of them breaks it because they are induced to do so by a third party, the third party can get sued from damages for interfering.

After hearing that, participants of the meeting immediately laughed and felted insulted as they questioned the accusation of interference. Bergman expresses CBS is a news outlet, there is no interference. People are always telling them things that they shouldn’t. Before anything is aired they first verify if the information is true and if it is of the public interest. Wallace continues to add that they collaborate it which is why they never lost a lawsuit.

The 60 minute Wigand piece is seen to CBS Corporate as riffed with problems. Caperelli wants to make sure of Wigand’s veracity since CBS is the standard for everyone else. Although Wigand is telling the truth, Caperelli explains that the greater the truth the greater the damage due to tortious interference. The Tobacco company owns the information being disclosed by Wigand. She continued explaining that if he lied the damages would be smaller. All participants of the meeting are baffled as they are warned if the segment gets aired they are at grave risk of being sued and owned by the Brown and Williamson Tobacco company.

Corporate is using logical reasoning as they show no empathy for Wigand. They rationalize from a business standpoint rather than news. If an alternate version of the segment gets aired it takes CBS out of the crossfire with the tobacco company. The participants of the meeting which are the individuals who go out and seek the truth are being both empathetic and credible to the information and Wigand’s case.* Question 1 written by Dr. Blevens.

Ozone depletion is a huge environmental nightmare for the human existence. The ozone is crucial for the survival to life on the Earth, yet about 20 percent of the ozone has been deteriorated. As earthlings it is our job to protect the ozone from further depletion. Without the ozone layer to protect us, ultraviolet radiation would directly reach the Earth’s surface, making it very difficult for any form of life to survive.